The 2011 Project is a work by San Francisco artist Tofu. Each day in 2011 he created a 4”x4” mixed media piece. The finished project was made up of 365 smaller mixed media pieces. In 2013 the individual pieces will be distributed to project supporters. The project also acted as sketchbook for new ideas, which continue to be incorporated into new work
For more information please visit 2011project.com

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November 1, 2011 – Todos los Santos

Today is Día deTodos Santos, or in English, All Saints Day.Brujería know the Saints.They know them from Brazil to Columbia, from Mexico to California, from Havana to Nueva York.From Port au Prince to Tucson they know the power of the Saints.(The images in this piece come from Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson.)The Saints are the Gods and they may bear alternate names bestowed by Catholicism.Many of them have their corresponding deities in the pantheons of indigenous and African-rooted traditions throughout the New World. For example Erzulie Dantor, the mother goddess of Haiti, is often associated with Poland’s Black Madonna.Haiti’s Papa Legba may appear as St. Peter. The corresponding God is known as Eshu or Exu in the Candomblé religion of Brazil.There he is associated with Saint Anthony de Padua.

About Me

I am an artist living in San Francisco. I work primarily in mixed media, collage and landscape painting. My work has included maps, postcard-themed art and mail art projects. In 2013 I began a series called Collagescapes where I start painting paper with areas of color representing the palette of a specific place. Next I cut the paper into hundreds of small pieces, randomize the pieces and then reassemble them in various geometric patterns. Collagescapes are both landscape paintings and collages. They appear abstract but retain the color palette of the places they represent.
My new series is Time Travel Photos — handmade photo collages showing places in San Francisco where I have cut and sliced present-day photographs and interwoven photos of nature representing how the City looked before Europeans arrived. Each is an image of an urban space with the natural past emerging through. For example, creeks once again run through the Mission and dunes reappear in Golden Gate Park and tidal flats fill the Embarcadero.
My work has shown in over 40 venues, primarily in California but also in other locations in the United States and abroad. My artwork can be viewed at tofuart.com